The Good and Unexpected...

Congratulations with the New Year that arrived and wishes of success in the Lord’s vineyard and faithfulness to Him in everything (1Cor. 16:13)!

December in Ukraine was warm in comparison with previous winters and it was very good for us. Of course it's not very good for the nature, but it helps us save funds. The students left on December 20th for winter break and the research week and they will resume studies on January 10th. They are all home now.

On December 17th we had a party that was attended by all the students, some of the teachers and a few young men that come to the church. The celebration was very eventful, a lot of fellowship, games and fun competitions. We congratulated each other with the coming New Year.

On Monday, December 20th, we had a preachers’ meeting in the building. There were 9 people – preachers from Gorlovka, Slavyansk, Ilovaisk, Krasnoarmeysk and some students. We discussed the topic “The Holy Spirit and His work”.

About two weeks ago we were contacted via our web-page by a lady from Russia (the city of Voronezh). She wants to join the Bible program next year. She’s been a Christian for a few years now.

At present I have plans to visit the Church of Christ congregations in the central part of Ukraine and do the presentation of our Institute. Please start praying about it.

Having studied the schedule for the second half of the school year I noted that we do not have enough teachers. This is why I will have to start looking for them in Ukraine intensively. If you have other ideas or possibly some brothers from the States who could help, please share this kind of information with me.

We still could not have the heating tank working properly. It looks ridiculous, but in my opinion the firm that had taken over this project miscalculated and now they are trying to finish their job. Beginning on January 10th, we will start testing the heating system again. Usually, we just constantly use the heaters in the classrooms.

There is another very important issue. The building we are now in is registered as a public (not religious) organization. Beginning the New Year the taxes and land lease will grow. The lawyers suggest we register the building in the name of the church. If it is registered as the church building we will save about 10-20%. But to do this the building is to be SOLD to the church – this is the only way to change the ownership. There are three persons who are in charge of the building on paper. They are Lena Martinson, Tatyana Pristupa and Ira Kramarenko. They had taken part in purchasing this building a long time ago and always went along with all the directions from David Fletcher. Please think about this suggestion. If we want to keep the budget that we already have and possibly save some money, then we will have to make this change. Of course, this procedure of selling and buying will demand some funds too but in the future it will help us to save money and be sure about the future of this building.

We send you our heartfelt greetings. We are thankful for your patience and your care for us.